Diabolic stratagem

Diabolic stratagem

warlord attack 1

Encounter ✦ martial, weapon

Standard Action

Melee weapon

Target: one creature

Attack: Strength vs. Reflex

Hit: "1[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target is marked until the end of your next turn."

Effect: "You grant the target of this attack combat advantage until the start of your next turn. The first attack the target makes against you before the start of your next turn provokes opportunity attacks from you and your allies."^[Dr369:54]

Diabolic stratagem is an encounter power available to warlords at 1st level.

Diabolic stratagem was introduced in "Class Acts: Warlord: Devilish tricks from the ancient warmongers of Bael Turath" by Stephen Radney-Macfarland in Dragon #369.

CharOp Evaluation: Average ^{[Charop Warlord]}

This power has massive damage potential, but it would require the enemy to blindly respect your mark. As you are not a Defender, you don't have the tools to enforce said mark, and if the GM is even slightly tactically alert, they likely won't take the bait, meaning you need to have some means to force the attack to take advantage of this. Requiring two powers for a payoff is not a good investment. ^{[Char-op Warlord]}